Thanks to everyone who read the first chapter and thanks to everyone who gave me some advice on what to do. Hopefully, I fixed some things about this chapter. Don't know if I got everything though. I know for a fact that some people might see the flashbacks as unnecessary, but I decided to keep them in anyway. Enjoy the second chapter, I doubt it's as good as the first. Let me know what you think of it
Chapter two - Confrontation
The phone ringing could actually be heard for once.
"Hello?"
"..."
"Yes this is Mrs Rita Loud speaking. What can I do for you?"
"..."
"Oh no, what did she do this time?"
"..."
"What?!"
"..."
"Don't worry, when we find her, we'll take care of it."
"..."
"Uh-huh?"
"..."
"Good Heavens! Is he okay?!"
"..."
"How long will he be there?"
"..."
"Sir I assure you we will straighten things out."
"..."
"Yes sir, we have insurance. We'll get it taken care of."
"..."
"Thank you."
"..."
"Okay. Goodbye." And with that, there was once again silence. Rita Loud couldn't believe what she was hearing. In just a moment, the whole world seemed to stop spinning. Never had any daughter of hers done something like that. Dragging a hand down her face, she leaned on the counter-top. This wasn't the first time that Lynn had sent someone to the hospital. It happened all the time as a matter of fact, but most of the time, it was just a broken nose, or a sprained ankle or wrist. Even Rita herself agreed that it had been deserved on occasion, but this was completely different. It was never necessary for an ambulance to come pick up some poor soul that Lynn had beat up. And it was never at the school either. It was always either at the park, at the pool, or somewhere else. One time it was even in their own backyard.
Flash-back
Lincoln had invited a couple of athletic guys, that actually happened to be cool with him, over to his house because he thought it would help him to get into sports. After all, he didn't want what happened to Lynn happening again. He still felt a sense of guilt for what had happened, even though it was just a sprained ankle, and had no plans on getting anyone hurt, so he had them sneak into the backyard, hopefully without being seen. After playing for a little bit, Lincoln was able to learn the basics of football, but Lynn just happened to look outside her bedroom window just then and saw them playing. She instantly dropped the baseball that she had been throwing into her pitching net and ran outside.
"Hey Lincoln, can I play!?"
This was exactly what Lincoln was trying to avoid. "No way Lynn, don't you remember what happened last time you tried to play a sport for me?"
Lynn looked up for a brief second. Rolling and then closing her eyes, she said, "Pfft, that was like, two weeks ago. I'm fine now!"
"No! I'm not gonna let it happen."
"Pleeeeeeease Linc?"
"No!"
Lynn sighed. "Okay, I'll just go back to my room and listen to Lucy read her dark, depressing, poems." She made sure to emphasize dark and depressing.
Lincoln rolled his own eyes and sighed. After a long moment of silence and Lynn lingering up the wooden stairs of the back porch, he caved in. "Fine... You can play..."
"THANKS LINC!" She didn't hesitate, rushing to play with the other guys. Lincoln instantly regretted it and just started watching them. There was a game going on almost instantly and in about 5 minutes, Lynn's team was in the lead, twenty-one to zero. The only reason that Lincoln knew this is because one of the things he was able to figure out, just before Lynn came outside, was how the scoring system worked. Each touchdown is worth six points and every extra point attempt was worth one. How did anyone get any points in any other sport? Lincoln, distracted in his thoughts, just sat on the back porch watching them, starting to notice that Lynn was having a little too much fun. When her team was on defense, she would start making plays that didn't exactly look sportsmanlike, or even legal and on offense she would start running all over the backyard just trying to make the game more fun. But what finally ended the game was when, playing defense, Lynn stuck her leg out and tripped the ball carrier. She didn't even try to tackle him. All she wanted to do, was see if she could make him trip with as little movement as possible and hit his face on the ground. Lynn got her wish alright, but the kid's chin hit a root that was sticking up, breaking his jaw. Seeing this, Lincoln instantly stood up and started running over to them.
"Lynn? Why did you do that?"
"It was just an accident?" she replied, trying not to laugh.
Lincoln put his hands on his waist and glared at her.
"Okay, so I did do it on purpose. But I never thought he would break his jaw!" Lynn was undoubtedly enjoying seeing this guy in pain.
"Well obviously" Lincoln thought as he rolled his eyes. "Otherwise you wouldn't have done it."
He then turned around and went to get somone. If the kid had never gotten seriously hurt, Lincoln might have just been able to let it go, but the guy probably broke his jaw, so he felt like he was forced to do the responsible thing. Lynn got grounded for a week and every time she saw the kid in school, she had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from laughing.
End of Flash-back
Lynn regretted nothing. After saying those things Tommy did about Lincoln, there was no way that she would be able to forgive him. She didn't just protect Lincoln physically, but she was also determined to make sure that no one would ever make fun of him. Sure, he had his flaws, everyone does, and today was a perfect example of that. But there was no way that she would let anyone touch or pick on her little brother, Especially if they were doing it while he wasn't even there. She remembered how she felt when she found out that people were picking on her behind her back and she was never going to let that happen to her little bro.
Finally taking a break from thinking all of these things, she found herself running home. She didn't do it on purpose, certainly, but for now, it was the only place she could go. When she got there, she looked up at it for a second and quickly ran around to the side door where the kitchen was and crawled in through the doggy door. Lucky for her, her mother was too distracted by the news she was receiving on the phone to even notice that Lynn successfully snuck into the house. Once she did get past a rather ballistic mother, she quietly tip-toed to her room and quickly sunk under her bed. Once she got there, she started crying.
No one could hear her. She wouldn't let anyone know that she had totally broken down. Not even her sisters. She would just have to get over it and play it like nothing had happened, which she had successfully done before. But something was different this time. People had made fun of her before for being the only girl in a boys class. It was bothersome for a while, but she had gotten used to it by now. But no one, before today, had dared to make fun of any of her siblings, let alone her only brother. She loved him. And as guilty as she felt about it, it was obvious that she preferred Lincoln over the rest of her siblings. She didn't know why she even had a favorite. Various different reasons crossed through her head, however, she didn't think about it for very long. It only made her feel more guilty. She just laid there under her bed and quietly sobbed.
No one had ever been in the hospital for more than a few hours because of Lynn, but now Tommy would have to stay overnight there, maybe two. He was hurt, bad. Bruises were scattered on his face and his eyes were both purple looking. There was a nasty knot on the left of his forehead, as well as having received a broken jawbone and nose. There was another bruise from where he was kicked on his side and there were two bruises on each of his shoulders from where he was grabbed and flipped back over. He had two fractured ribs on his left side and both of his ankles were swollen up. One of them was even broken. Adding onto all that, he had a terrible headache and ringing ears. Then as if to put the icing on the cake, he felt so guilty and embarrassed of what he did. He knew he had gone way too far with making fun of Lynn's brother, but never thought that this would happen. That fight was so brutal that he was already out cold before even being given a chance to say sorry. But it was too late now and there was no way he could take it back.
No one found out what happened with Lynn, but when Lori got home from school, their mother wasn't there. Confused about what was going on, she texted her mother.
Lori: Where are you?
Mom: Oh I'm just doing some
grocery shopping :)
Lori: Tell me what actually
happened...
After a few minutes with no reply
Mom:Lynn got in a fight and
ran away from school :/
Went out to look for her,
still don't know where she
is. Don't tell anyone!
You're in charge
In a grand total of about seven seconds, Lori's face went from expressionless, to curious, to confused, to surprised, and finally ended with a look of worry. When everyone else had been picked up and were doing what they normally did, she told them all to go to the living room for a family meeting.
"Everyone! Downstairs! Now!"
With a thunderous roar, all of them but Lincoln stomped down to the living room and gathered around the couch. The only reason that Lincoln didn't come is because he closed the door to his room to make sure none of his other sisters bothered him. He was too engrossed in the most recent edition of Ace Savvy and didn't hear Lori, apparently, no one else had noticed either.
"Mom has left for the night on some important business and she put me in charge," she said, without even making sure everyone was there. Everyone complained, but she continued anyway, lying to her sisters.
"Lynn isn't here right now, she... decided to stay late for soccer practice."
"Wait a minute, Lynn doesn't have soccer on Fridays" Lola boomed.
"Ugh, you know how she is," Lori snarled, silently thankful that Lola asked. It gave her time to come up with a response. "She always wants an excuse to get more practice in."
They all seemed to fall for that. "Mom is going to pick up Lynn before she gets back. Remember. I'm in charge, so you have to do what I say!"
They all complained again, but agreed. After what happened a few months ago when Lincoln was voted in charge and the house nearly fell apart, they decided to trust Lori's judgment. Besides, it wasn't that bad with her in charge anymore. Lori dismissed them and they all went back to the things they were doing.
Lincoln realized that it had become quiet all of a sudden and decided to check out what was going on. He stopped reading Ace Savvy, got up and opened the door just a crack. Right when he did, all the rest of his sisters came back upstairs and returned to their normal routines. Nothing had seemed to change, so he went back to reading his comic. Finishing it about thirty minutes later, he said to himself, "Man, I can't wait for the next one," as he put his current edition in a neat little pile where all of the other comics were. Then, reaching into his backpack, about to start on his homework, he found some tennis balls in the bottom of it.
"What are these doing here? I don't remember bringing any tennis balls to school." He thought with a quizzical look on his face. "Whatever, they're probably Lynn's. I better go give them back to her."
He carefully stepped out of his bedroom and walked over to Lynn and Lucy's room. Opening the door, not even paying attention, he said, "Hey Lynn, do you want these back?" and he raised the tennis balls in his hand.
Realizing that she wasn't responding, he walked into the room. Treading carefully, he quickly scanned the room, expecting Lynn to pop out of nowhere yelling "Lucha Libre!" But he didn't see her anywhere where she could easily jump on him. So with a sigh of relief, he immediately looked under the Lynn's bed and found her laying there, rolling a baseball back and forth between her hands, looking quite depressed.
"Lynn?" he asked.
"What! Who's there?!" She reeled back, prepared to throw the ball at Lincoln's face.
Lincoln yelped as he flinched and then, realizing what he had done, sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I know, I know, two for flinching..." But when Lynn just told him to go away, Lincoln immediately assumed something was wrong. He went downstairs to find that Lori was sitting on the couch texting Bobby.
"Hey Lori!"
Instantly, she realized that Lincoln never came downstairs for the meeting and smacked herself in the forehead. But instead of going off on him, like she normally would if he had missed something like this, she recognized that it was partially her own fault for not noticing he wasn't there, so she just sighed and said, "What do you want twerp?"
"Why is Lynn hiding under her bed?"
"What?! She's been under her bed this whole time?!"
Before this point, it could have been questionable as to whether something was wrong, but now, Lincoln could definitely tell. He wanted to ask what it was, but instead, waited until one of them broke the silence.
She sighed and said, "Fine. Come here twerp."
Lincoln sat down on the couch next to Lori and she started whispering in his ear. Careful not to be too loud, everything was revealed from the moment that mom texted her about Lynn to the moment when she told everyone else what was going on. When the story was over, Lincoln spoke up, "Wow, must've been some fight if she ran away like that..."
"Shut up twerp!" she whispered in a commanding tone. "Remember, literally, no one else knows what happened, so just keep it to yourself."
"Okay, Okay, but I'm still gonna go talk to her."
"Ugh, fine. Just don't tell anyone else what really happened," and with that, Lori sent a quick text to mom, telling her what she had told the rest of the kids, that Lincoln found Lynn hiding under the bed, and then went back to texting bobby.
Lincoln shrugged and ran back upstairs to Lynn's room. No one else knew that Lynn was actually home. Lucy briefly went into her room, but only to grab a flashlight. She crawled up to the vent and started working on some poems, never even noticing that Lynn was under the bed. Lynn was not crying anymore, but was obviously still distraught from what had happened. No one but Lincoln, Lori, and their mom knew where she was.
Despite what many of their sisters think, Lynn was actually really good at hiding; probably the best; even better than Lucy. The only reason that no one thought so was because Lincoln always accidentally stumbled across her hiding spot, like he did today. They would all play hide and seek in the park on occasion, and Lincoln would be the only one to ever find Lynn. He never even tried to look for her because, again, he kept finding her on accident. In a family of eleven kids, they didn't play hide and seek where one person looked for everyone, but rather, once a person was found, they would help the seeker look for other people. One time, Lynn got the genius idea to constantly change hiding places so that no one would ever figure out where she was. It would have worked. She knew that she was fast enough to be able to not be seen running around by her sisters, so it never crossed her mind that anyone would be able to catch her.
Flash-back
"haha, no one will find me this time!" She said to herself quietly as she hid in the first hiding spot. Everything was planned out. She would stay in this spot until a few people had been found, then would run to where someone else was hiding and stay there until a few more had been found, and would repeat the process until everyone else had been found. Then she would emerge from her hiding spot, victorious and gloating over the rest of her sisters about how she was the best at hide and seek. But that plan failed almost instantly.
Lincoln was and is notoriously bad at hiding, but knew exactly how to find almost all of his sisters. He never had a plan for finding Leni because she never actually tried to hide, and he always accidentally stumbled across Lynn. Lincoln was found almost immediately by Luna, so he started helping look for the other siblings. He found Luan pretty quick who would reveal herself by laughing when Lincoln told a corny joke here and there about hiding, and then found Lucy hiding in the darkest part of the park; the same place where she always hides.
Lynn had been watching them for a while now and decided that it was time to move. Waiting until Lincoln looked like he was going to leave the scene, she kept hidden. When Lincoln finally started moving, she got up and started running across the grass. Sprinting, but treading as lightly as possible, she looked everywhere but in front of her, trying to make sure that no one could see her or hear her. The plan had been working so far, but she didn't notice that Lincoln had turned around, and before she knew it. WHAM!
Lincoln and Lynn collided, butting heads with a thud as they fell to the ground. Lincoln hit the ground first and she continued rolling over him, getting past, and finally stopped herself, sitting up. A little dazed at first, she started to get up and tried to keep running. Maybe no one would see what happened if she was fast enough, but of course, she was never fast enough to escape his quick moving eyes. Lincoln sat up and instantly yelled out, realizing what she was trying to do "Found you Lynn!"
"Dang it!"
Lynn helped Lincoln up, both of them holding their heads in pain. At first Lynn was so angry that a perfectly good plan like this went to waste and was about to punch Lincoln in the shoulder, but upon seeing that he had a headache too, she just laughed at him.
"I bet I can find everyone else first!" she told him.
"Oh, you're on!" Lincoln quickly replied.
End of Flash-back
Lynn wasn't surprised when Lincoln was the one that found her, but she knew it was only a matter of time before he would come up and try to talk to her. School was nearly out when she ran away, so she hadn't been there for much longer than an hour the first time Lincoln came up. She had been quiet as a mouse, yet remained restless. Rolling that ball back and forth between her hands had kept her busy, but she was also shaking her feet every so often, trying to keep them from falling asleep.
"So that's what happened," Lincoln stated as he entered the room. His sudden presence startled Lynn, almost as if it were Lucy in the room instead. She knew this was coming and yet still, kept trying to avoid it.
"I already told you to go away Lincoln..."
"No way!" he started telling her. "You can't just get in a fight, run away and then expect nothing to happen."
She knew that he was right. There was no running from this like she did the fight, so, with a sigh, she finally confessed, "Who told you about it?"
"The school called mom who told Lori what happened, then she told me what was going on. Everyone else thinks you're at soccer practice because mom didn't want everyone else to worry about you."
"Hey twerp!" The door of Lynn's room burst open. "Mom said she's on her way back. Lynn, If Lincoln already told you what I said, then you should find a way outside, like, literally, now! And without anyone seeing you." And with that, Lori left.
"Well, looks like I better go face the music," Lynn said, crawling out from under the bed. Without even glancing at Lincoln, she opened and jumped out the window, shimmying down the side of the house and jumping down on the ground when low enough. She ran around to the front of the house, hopping over the chain-link fence and, successfully avoiding all her sisters, prepared herself to get the grounding of a lifetime. Lincoln had something else in mind though. Running downstairs, he approached the front door, opened it, and went outside. He saw Lynn already out there, just waiting for their mom to get home. He walked over to her, unnoticed until being right next to her.
"Great, what do you want?"
"I just wanna talk Lynn..."
"Of course you do..." That was just typical of him. He knows whenever something is wrong with his sisters and it's just not like him to ignore it when there is.
There was a pause for about five seconds until Lincoln spoke up. "I wanna know what really happened!
Saying that took her completely by surprise just standing there now, looking dumbfounded. What did he mean by that? Did he know already and was just asking to confirm it? Or was it something else?
"What do you mean, I got in a fight, hurt the guy pretty bad, then ran off."
"That's exactly it. You've never run away after fighting someone before, let alone hid under the bed..."
Lynn sighed. This conversation was unavoidable, but she wasn't ready for it yet. When Lincoln asked her what really happened, everything that Tommy said started replaying in her mind, almost echoing throughout it, and she started getting choked up. There wouldn't be any controlling herself if Lincoln started talking about it right then and there. No one but Lincoln needed to see that, and she was even hesitant about him seeing it. So she had to wait to tell him until there was no way that they could be distracted, so that no one else could see what was bound to happen when she told him what really went on. She didn't want anyone, not even her own sisters to know that she got so distraught over something so simple.
"I don't want to talk about it right now Lincoln," Lynn told him. "We can talk about it later tonight when I'm more in the mood."
Lincoln realized that this was more than just running away from a fight. If she wasn't even ready to talk to him about it with him yet, then she wasn't going to reveal it at all. So with a sigh, he said, "okay. I assume that you'll sneak into my room in the middle of the night like you always do?"
"Yeah, probably." She picked up a tennis ball off of the ground and started tossing it in the air, repeating the process upon catching it.
Lincoln walked back into the house and Lynn started throwing the ball against the wall, hitting the it with a thump every time. Keeping it up for about ten minutes, their mom finally got home. She scolded Lynn for doing what she did and grounded her for a month, not telling her how severe Tommy's injuries were. She also said that she had a meeting with the school principal and that they would decide the proper course of action on Monday. She had been suspended until they made a decision about how to handle the situation. Lynn didn't care though. She didn't mind taking the punishment as long as her little brother was okay. No one makes fun of him like that and just gets away with it.